While addressing a public rally in Kanpur the young Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi spelt out a new slogan for the party “Congress ke dono haath, garibon ke saath” (Both hands of Congress is for poor) replacing the existing one “Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath” (The Congress hand – the party symbol – is with the common man).

People gathered there were highly impressed by his speech and gave a huge applause in response to his public friendly slogan at Kanpur’s Phool Bagh grounds on Monday.

Expressing his disillusionment about the state of affairs in UP rahul said, “During my recent trip to Karnataka, I met some young men from Uttar Pradesh, who said that they were there because they saw no future for themselves in UP. There was a time when UP was the torch bearer for the rest of the country, but today it is far behind all other states.”

Hailing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the United Progressive Alliance government’s “pro-poor” policies, the scion of the Gandhi family wondered why questions were raised in all quarters, particularly the media, over the recent farm loan waiver of Rs 600 billion.

“I have often been asked, if such a waiver is economically feasible for a country like ours. But I wonder, why issues of economic feasibility are not raised, when it comes to concessions for non-performing assets of big companies,” Rahul questioned.

Emphasizing on poor’s need and rights he said, “I do not mean to say that you should work only for the poor; all I wish to emphasize is, that the poor too have a voice, which more often than not remains unheard – particularly in states like Uttar Pradesh.”